


You wanna step up

by Estelle (Fielding)



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Episode: s07e01 Manhunter, F/M, Missing Scene, domestic peraltiago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:07:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22626823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fielding/pseuds/Estelle
Summary: Jake has a few things to pick up at the drugstore, the day after the events of Manhunter.
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 22
Kudos: 98





	You wanna step up

**Author's Note:**

> In case it isn't obvious: Spoilers for Manhunter.

It hits Jake the next day, as he’s scanning the row of feminine hygiene products for Amy’s preferred brand of tampons, that this might be the last time he buys these for a while.

The thought knocks the breath out of him and for a moment he’s just standing there, hand hovering over the familiar black box (combo pack with regular, super and super- _plus_ , because his wife’s a badass), until someone jostles his shoulder and he sees a pink-faced teenage girl trying to reach past him for the pantyliners.

“Excuse me,” she says under her breath. Jake apologizes and grabs the Kotex, dropping them in his basket and taking a step back, out of the way.

He’d noticed this morning that Amy was running low on tampons and offered to pick up some more on his way home from work, since they needed toothpaste and orange soda anyway, and she had to attend a meeting that evening on police perimeter protocols. Apparently there’d been a few missteps at the assassination scene.

“Oh, can you get a new bottle of Midol too?” Amy had said, when he’d stopped by her desk to say hello-goodbye after work.

He’d kissed her -- it was late, only a couple of officers were around -- and told her to text him so he wouldn’t forget.

“Thanks, babe,” Amy had said, going up on her toes to kiss him again, on the cheek.

Their eyes had met as she backed away, and something had passed between them, something thrilling and secret that made them both break out in goofy, giddy grins. He’d been tempted to pull her in for a proper kiss, but even after four years together those had a tendency to get out of control. He’d given her a little wave instead, and promised to keep her dinner warm.

Now, standing in the tampon aisle at Rite Aid, Jake bites his lip, his stomach fluttering with nerves and excitement. He knows Amy might not get pregnant right away -- it could take months, or longer. But he also knows it could be soon. Next month, even.

He understands almost nothing about menstrual cycles. Amy gets her period once a month for a few days, and she’s sometimes kind of cranky for a day or two (he never says anything about her attitude, but when it’s really bad she apologizes, eventually). Also, if she forgets to take something for cramps then the pain can get bad enough that she ends up curled up on the couch while Jake hovers and feels totally inadequate. But that’s about the limit of his knowledge.

And that’s going to have to change.

Jake looks around at the signs hanging over the neighboring aisles, and sure enough, the next one over is for family planning products. He heads over and is immediately overwhelmed. It’s mostly condoms, but next to those boxes are ovulation kits, alongside pregnancy tests and sperm tests and home paternity tests (which immediately bums him out). There are lotions for getting rid of stretch marks and soothing cracked nipples, and like eight different kinds of “belly oils” for pregnant women. And there are supplements, so many supplements.

He absently picks up a jar of prenatal vitamins, 500-count. They’re gummies, in raspberry-lemonade flavor; they’re probably gross but Amy likes lemonade. The jar is heavy in his palm, and Jake wonders how it compares to the weight of a newborn. He sets it in the basket. Then he looks back to the shelves, and starts shopping.

An hour later at the checkout counter, the clerk gives him an impressed side-eye when his total hits $400. The jumbo tampon box is the last thing she scans, and Jake says, “Oh! Wait!” and sprints toward the back of the store. The line behind him is grumbling when he gets back, out of breath, and hands the Midol to the clerk.

“Cramps,” he says. “The worst, right?”

“You know,” says the gray-haired lady behind him in line, “a hot water bottle works too. And some peppermint tea. I learned that from my grandmom.”

Jake passes his credit card to the clerk and scratches the back of his neck. “We were just thinking about getting her knocked up. That takes care of cramps too, right?”

The lady glances at the clerk packing up his purchases, and they half-smile at each other, clearly communicating something Jake can’t quite follow. 

“Peppermint tea helps with morning sickness too,” the lady says, and plucks a box of tea from her own basket, which she hands to the clerk. “I’ll buy this for the young man.”

Jake thinks he should refuse, but honestly, he’s pretty touched. “Thanks,” he says.

“Good luck,” she says, and then winks. “Have fun!”

+++

Amy gets home after 10, and he can tell by the way she _almost_ slams the front door that she’s cranky and probably crampy too. He glances at the coffee table and realizes there’s a very good chance she will not be thrilled by his Rite Aid shopping binge and he’s made a potentially dangerous mistake. He grabs the throw blanket off the back of the couch and tosses it over the evidence.

“Hey, babe, how was your day? Can I get you some tea?” Jakes moves to stand in front of the table and intercept his wife, who looks tired and pale (and still gorgeous) in her uniform.

“What’s on the table, Jake?”

“What table? Do we have a table?”

“Jake-”

She moves to look past him and he steps to the side, blocking her. He takes her hands and waits until she’s looking up at him, mouth turned down in a small frown.

“Just remember that I love you and nothing is refundable,” Jake says, and kisses her, quick and chaste, before getting out of the way.

Amy picks the blanket up off the coffee table and throws it back onto the couch. Then she lifts a hand to her mouth, and Jake’s standing just behind her and can’t tell what’s happening on her face as she takes it all in: the 12-pack of pregnancy tests and the fertility monitor sticks and the giant jar of gummy vitamins and the pre-conception supplements and the peppermint tea and everything else he bought today, spread out all over the table.

She picks up the tampons and holds them to her chest. When she turns around her eyes are brimming and her smile is his favorite kind, the one that’s entirely joyful, and just for him.

“I’m only crying because it’s day two of my period, and you know how that goes,” she says, swiping at one eye.

“I know,” he says. He pulls her toward him, the tampon box crunching between them. “I hate this time of the month.”

She throws her arms around his neck, and she’s laughing when they kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Focused AF (Bash Brothers again!). Thank you to Fezzle/Drowninginmyworries for the speedy beta! Come say hi on tumblr, if you like -- I'm @vernonfielding.


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